[TheForge] clarification

[Dave Brown]

At 20:12 01/03/03 -0600, you wrote:

>I don't think the natives were pounding iron at that time in that locale.
>
><BG>
>
>mike

No, but they were pounding copper.  There was a "Copper Culture" existing 
in what is now Wisconsin.  There were naturally occurring pure copper 
nuggets in the area and the aboriginal peoples were adept at working the 
copper.  They recognized that it work hardened and that it could be 
softened (annealed) by heating and cooling.

Going into the 17th century, "Many of the explorers who followed Columbus 
were more interested in finding an easy route to Asia than they were in 
exploring and settling this continent. In 1634 Jean Nicolet, emissary of 
Gov. Samuel de Champlain of New France, landed at Red Banks on the shore of 
Green Bay."  So, it would appear that there wasn't any blacksmithing going 
on  through this period.

Around the mid 1700's La Compagnie Franche de la Marine established Ft. La 
Baya in what is now Green Bay.  They probably had a blacksmith with them, 
or at least a member of the company who was familiar with basic 
blacksmithing.  I'm not aware of any records giving provenance to the 
existence of blacksmiths with the French, but I would guess that they had 
some sort of blacksmithing support.

Later the Brits succeeded the French.  The Brits established a camp at the 
mouth of the Fox River, occupied by Gorrell's Company of the 60th Regiment 
of Foote.  They also undoubtedly had a blacksmith, but I know not who it 
was.  The blacksmith's duties would have consisted mostly of repairs and 
maintenance and the shoeing of horses.  Most iron items were brought in via 
ships or bateaux, having been made elsewhere.

By the early 1800's the area around Green Bay was the "gateway to the 
west".  By 1836 Ft Howard had been established by the Americans and steam 
boats were plying the waters of the Great Lakes and into Green Bay.  Goods 
could then travel by barge and steamboat along the Fox River to Portage, WI 
and then via short canal to the Wisconsin River and then down to LaCrosse 
and the Mississippi River.  By this time places like Green Bay were 
bustling ports and coal and iron bar stock were imported.  Blacksmiths of 
the period seem to have done as much maintenance and service work, if not 
more than they did creative new works.

By the late 1840's (Wisconsin became a State in 1848), emigration was 
strong and farming grew.  Many, if not most blacksmiths in the area were 
engaged in small communities where their work was predominantly farm 
related (shoeing horses, sharpening plow points, repairing tools and chain, 
etc...).  In the towns there were blacksmiths to repair and/or fabricate 
what ever was needed and not imported, farriers to do the shoeing, not to 
mention the blacksmith shops (today called the maintenance department) in 
the new and growing canning industries and the ship building and railroad 
yards.  All of these required blacksmiths of varying talents and degrees of 
expertise.

Post Civil War saw the growth of ornamental blacksmithing in the 
area.  While a country blacksmith's bread and butter might have been 
shoeing horses and sharpening plows, an ornamental blacksmith could make a 
respectable living in Green Bay (population in excess of 5,000 in the area 
of service.

Bottom line is that there is no simple description of "what is a blacksmith 
of the xxxx period.

Hope this could be of some help.

Dave Brown
Heritage Smithing
Green Bay, WI
ABANA, UMBA, GoM, MODA, ARG